


Underneath the Mistletoe

by kensington_queen



Series: Dasey: the hogwarts chronicles [2]
Category: Life with Derek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Mistletoe, One Shot, Slytherin Pride, angst if you squint, dasey in denial, everyone gets fluff!, have some fluff, i get fluff, its the most magical time of the year, mistletoe trope but make it hogwarts, now a two shot, you get fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:55:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28015047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kensington_queen/pseuds/kensington_queen
Summary: Two-shot Hogwarts AU: Casey and Derek, caught underneath the mistletoe.
Relationships: Casey McDonald/Derek Venturi
Series: Dasey: the hogwarts chronicles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2047679
Comments: 11
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Posted as is, blah blah. 
> 
> _Push my pride aside  
>  When I close my eyes  
> It's just you and I  
> Here under the mistletoe  
> Magic fills the air..._ Kelly Clarkson, Under the Mistletoe
> 
> For Binxx, Merry Early Christmas! <3

“Morning Casey,” Lizzie sleepily said one morning a couple days before students were due to leave on the Hogwarts Express for London. There was a rather jolly atmosphere at breakfast. Exams were wrapping up and professors had relaxed their expectations on course work - well most, except for sour faced Professor Vaulker. But Casey had already completed the four pages due on potions used for remedies, so she was just about ready to embrace the festive season in all its magical glory.

The ancient magic of Hogwarts always seemed to magnify when pristine, fluffy white snow fell and landed in piles around the premises, when the castle ghosts merrily sang Christmas tunes from centuries past, and when the house elves transformed the Great Hall with tall Christmas trees and festive decorations on the every house table. 

Casey never minded having to stay during the holidays. Most of the Canadian students did, unless they arranged their international portkey months in advance - magical border security always tended to be a pain, especially so during the holidays - so there was plenty of company still when most students went home. 

“Hi Lizzie, sleep well?” Casey chirpily said as her sister sat down beside her on the bench. Lizzie nodded, reaching for a goblet of orange juice. Unlike her older sister, Lizzie did not appreciate mornings. 

“My brain is fried,” Lizzie yawned. “I’ve been studying non-stop for my Transfiguration final. It’s today.”

“Home stretch,” Casey sympathetically replied. “It’s your last one, right? Then you can have a well deserved rest.”

“Ughhf,” Lizzie munched on a piece of toast. “Quidditch practice tonight. Derek is making us do suicides to prep for the match against Gryffindor after break.”

Casey rolled her eyes. In her opinion, Quidditch could wait until after Christmas. She didn’t understand the appeal of people flying around on broomsticks chasing a small golden ball around. As if reading her mind, the Slytherin team’s captain decided to sit down beside her and ruin her morning. 

“Morning Spacey!” Derek cheerfully - too cheerfully - said, helping himself to the untouched home fries left on her plate. He shoved them into his mouth.

“Hey! I was going to eat that,” Casey huffed. She wasn’t. 

“No you weren’t,” Derek breezily replied. “Every morning you put the same things on your plate - a handful of fruit, yogurt, a bit of toast, and the fries which you barely ever touch. Can’t be letting good food go to waste, it’ll insult the house elves.”

Damn it, Casey thought. Since when did he pay attention to her eating habits?

“Hey by the way, what are you doing this -”

“No,” Casey sharply interjected. “Absolutely not. I am not going to Hogsmeade with you.”

Lizzie deeply sighed. For Merlin’s sake, it was barely eight am. Why was he starting this up already? Derek’s latest way of annoying Casey was to ask her out to Hogsmeade whenever one of the weekends were scheduled. He was hopelessly, head over heels crazy about her sister - and she was too freakin’ dense to notice. Lizzie would bet galleons that even he didn’t realize it. 

Merlin they were so exasperating.

“You wound me, McDonald,” Derek dramatically grabbed at his chest. 

“You wish,” Casey retorted, standing up and flouncing away from the table. She passed by Edwin, barely pausing to wish him a good morning before she had gone.

“What’s her problem?” Edwin grumpily asked, grabbing a pot of coffee. Lizzie gave him a pointed look, nodding towards Derek who had turned to speak to one of their housemates. “Say no more,” Edwin shook his head. “I can’t deal with Dasey problems before coffee.”

“I need to stop coming to breakfast early,” Lizzie grumbled. She made a mental note to try and avoid the common room later. Something gave her the feeling the day would get much worse before it ended.

+

Depending on Professor Bulstrode’s mood, it was either the best day or the worst when the sorting hat placed both Derek and Casey into Slytherin. They were, without doubt, destined to be some of the best students to have belonged to their ancient and noble house in a long time. Both were gifted, and bright, and always striving to be best; which unfortunately resulted in them competing against each other, forgetting they were earning the same house points. 

Professor Bulstrode had been pleased when their competitiveness resulted in a Slytherin house cup victory. But now -

“Venturi! McDonald! In my office! Now!” Professor Bulstrode shouted loudly, drawing all eyes present in the Slytherin common room. She was covered in a sticky green substance, owl feathers stuck to her robes and pointy hat. The pragmatic Slytherins hid their smirks, busying themselves while keeping a watchful eye on the show.

“Nice going Venturi,” someone said from a table by the fireplace as Derek confidently stood up from where he had been lounging on a sofa. Casey glowered, angrily stomping behind him as they followed their head of house out of the room.

“For Merlin’s sake Derek,” Casey furiously whispered as they entered the office. “If I get detention because of you I will make you wish you never stepped foot in this castle.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “Re-lax, SpaceCase, I’ve got the perfect explanation.”

“Then by all means, do explain, Mr Venturi,” Professor Bulstrode interjected, standing cross armed behind her desk. She had always reminded Casey of a bullfrog. It took a lot of effort to not laugh at the fact she especially looked like one covered in the green sticky substance and the ridiculous feathers. It was like a bullfrog chicken combination, Casey thought to herself.

“I had nothing to do with this, Professor!” Casey said, borderline hysterical. “It’s all Derek’s fault!” He mouthed along with her, straightening up when their head of house turned to narrow her beady eyes on him.

“For once, it has nothing to do with me,” Derek countered, holding up three fingers to form a _W_. “Wizards honor!” 

“Am I really to believe that a mistletoe exploding upon not kissing someone, placed in the hall outside of my office had nothing to do with your antics?” Professor Bulstrode asked, pulling feathers off of her face. 

“Uh yes, Professor,” Derek replied. “Don’t you think I’d take credit for that? And no offense, Professor, but why would I involve Spacey in that when there’s plenty of hot Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws staying for the holidays I could cozy up with? Or why would it be placed in front of your office? Wouldn’t I want to place it in a more public spot like the Great Hall? The dungeon doesn’t exactly get a lot of foot traffic.”

“That.. actually is really logical,” Casey said annoyed. “He’s telling the truth, I can spot a bullsh- _lie_ when he says one, Professor.” 

Professor Bulstrode blinked, taken aback. She glanced between them several times before sighing. “Very well then, Mr Venturi. I believe you. Apparently I thought, well never mind what I thought. You’re free to go.”

Casey did not have to be told a second time. She darted out of the door faster than Derek could say _accio_ ; he rushed after her, his agility from Quidditch enabling him to catch up with easy strides. He could hear muttering under her breath, “unbelievable” and “twat” and a slew of other, impressive expletives in rapid succession. For some reason she had gone the opposite direction of their common room, perhaps hoping to put some distance between them. 

“Case,” he tapped her arm. She stopped near the top of the dungeon steps, the light of the entrance hall glowing above them. It formed a halo like light around her, making her blue eyes sparkle and the subtle highlights interwoven in her long brunette locks shimmer. The emerald of her school sweater caught his eye too; of course Casey, ever the keener, would willingly wear a part of her uniform during the weekend. 

“What,” she tiredly asked, yanking her arm away from his touch like it scorched through the thick wool material. 

“Why are you mad?” He asked, shuffling on the stone step and sticking his hands in his robe pockets. 

“I’m not mad,” she automatically replied. “Just irritated that _once again_ I’m lumped together with you when something happens around here!” 

“Well to be fair, it’s a safe bet most times,” Derek said, smirking when Casey huffed and turned to go. “That doesn’t normally get your knickers in a twist.”

Casey paused mid-step, whirling around and stomping a couple steps down to be at his level. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Derek’s smirk grew bigger. “No way you’re in a bad mood because Bulstrode accused us of a prank together.”

“Then tell me, step-brother dear, why am I in a bad mood?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Derek leaned in, just a smidge. “You’re jealous of what I said. But that can be solved quite easily, Case. Hogsmeade is later today -”

Casey’s eyes were unreadable as she processed what he implied. “Jerk,” she poked him on the chest. He’d never tell her, but it would definitely leave a bruise. Not to mention it made his stomach dip and flip (and made something else switch up...) whenever she touched him. Even if it was in anger. _Especially_ when it was in anger. 

Derek opened his mouth to make a retort, when something blurred on the peripheral of his vision. His eyes tracked the movement, noticing a second later something very green suspended in air above them. Casey turned her head, tilting it up. 

Mistletoe.

“HAHAHA, Derry and Casey sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” The unmistakable, manic laughter of Peeves rang out from near the ceiling. “TIS THE SEASON, FA LA LA HA HA HA!” 

Casey groaned. “This can not be happening right now.”

Derek chuckled. “Well now we know the culprit!” 

“Der-ek!” Casey drew her wand, pointing it at Peeves. “Get rid of this Peeves! Or I swear to Merlin I’ll turn you into pixie dust!”

Derek shook his head. It was never a good idea to antagonize the poltergeist. 

“KISS! KISS! OR PREPARE FOR SLIME!” Peeves laughed, smacking his lips. 

“I would rather kiss the giant squid,” Casey hissed in defiance.

“Well, looks like you’ll just have to settle for me,” Derek said, casting an uneasy eye towards Peeves, who was hovering far too close to them for his liking.

Before she could react, warm lips brushed teasingly against her own, drawing out a slow, lazy kiss. It disappointed Casey in a way that the rumors of Derek’s kissing skills were very much true. There had always been a part of her that hoped they were exaggerations, for it they were, it would mean she wasn’t missing out. 

But now she knew. 

Casey forgot to resist the urge to wrap her arms around him, leaning into the kiss the way her body demanded it. His hands found her waist, drawing her impossibly closer. The hysterical laughter of Peeves faded away as the poltergeist slunk off to bother someone else, the previous targets unaware, so wrapped up in each as they were. Eventually common sense took hold again, the realization that anyone could discover them. Rumors would be around the school before Casey could utter _accio._

Casey pushed Derek away, both breathing heavily as they stared at each other. 

“Still want to kiss the squid instead?” He asked, flashing a cocky smile. 

His words seemed to have the same effect as ice water as Casey straightened up, taking a step away from his hold. Her voice, to her credit, did not waver when she finally found words to speak. “This is the fault of Peeves,” she said. “It never happened, and certainly won’t happen again. Okay?” 

“Whatever you say, Spacey,” Derek mockingly saluted. “Are you sure about not wanting to go to Hogsmeade? Madam Puddifoot is having a Christmas special….” 

“No,” Casey replied, turning up the steps, probably to the library to hide for a bit. “Thanks for the invite though,” she added as an afterthought, the first time in recent memory she actually thanked him for something. 

Derek watched her take off for the third time that day, disappointment and thrill coursing through his veins. He needed to channel the adrenaline, asap. He turned back down towards the dungeons to change into his quidditch gear early. A long, very long, cold, flying session was in order before he did something dumb like chase after Casey again and snog her senseless in the library. 

Maybe he would get lucky and run into her in the prefects bathroom later. Someone _had_ been placing mistletoe in there, after all... 


	2. A Drabble of a Follow Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! A tiny little follow up for all you lovely readers. I hope you have a wonderful day, wherever you are in the world and whatever you celebrate. <3

It would be Casey’s luck that that mistletoe would follow her around the school. As the holiday break started, and the student population shrunk as most went home for the break, the amount of mistletoe around the castle seemed to increase by tenfold. 

The worst part about it was that wherever Casey ran into mistletoe, Derek seemed to be. _It’s not the worst thing in the world,_ a traitorous part of her mind whispered each time she found herself trapped beneath one of the enchanted mistletoes besides him. Her defenses certainly were beginning to weaken against him each encounter, the kisses becoming something she actually looked forward to. 

The two times she dared to step away from the mistletoe resulted in the same sticky and feathered substances that got their head of house exploding on her and Derek, plus an awful rotten egg smell that made them gag. 

“Am I really that bad of a kisser,” he complained the second time, coughing out white feathers and wiping away the substance from his eyes. “That this,” he gestured to the mess on himself, “is preferable?”

They had been in the Entrance Hall, coming in from an impromptu interhouse snowball fight out in the courtyard. Lizzie and Edwin had burst out laughing the moment the explosion occurred, while above them a floating Peeves danced and threw slime at unlucky bystanders until the headmistress chased him away. 

“.... yes,” Casey weakly defended, pulling feathers out of her hair. The house elves took their robes away to be laundered, somehow miraculously getting every last bit off of it. Later that evening, when they found themselves under one of the poltergeist’s mistletoes again in the Great Hall, she didn’t hesitate in initiating the kiss. 

Casey wouldn’t chance the gross, mysterious substance a third time. It had taken a long time in the bath to get it all off, and even then she didn’t feel fully clean. 

Strangely, it almost felt like a routine part of Casey’s day by the time Christmas Eve rolled around. Kissing Derek became _normal._ A week of it would cause that reaction from anyone she reasoned. And it wasn’t like Derek was a terrible kisser. Far from it. He knew how to make use of his mouth. 

(She idly wondered how else he could make use of it...)

Honestly the sheer amount of mistletoe that they kept finding themselves under made Casey wonder if there was a conspiracy to get them to work out their ultra high tension in a way that didn’t hinder the rest of the school. It couldn’t all be Peeves handiwork, after all. The poltergeist could be very crafty and annoying with his chaotic pranks, but there was no way he would be targeting her and Derek specifically. 

Peeves didn’t venture into the dungeons much, as the Bloody Baron made sure to keep him out, and most of the mistletoe after the first few public ones were concentrated in the Slytherin common room, or the the shared corridors that led to the dorms, or even, shudder, the Slytherin prefect bathroom.

If it weren’t for that last one, Casey would have been inclined to think that Derek was involved with the mistletoe. But each time it occurred, he had the same expression on his face. One of incredulity, hesitation, and wariness that she was going to hex him to oblivion each time. So, while Derek certainly was suspect, Casey couldn’t help to think he was actually quite innocent in their shared circumstances. 

The Entrance Hall: 

“Oh for Merlins sake, again?”

“I need to learn to look up….”

The Great Hall: “I’m actually really tired of having an audience for this…”  
The dungeons: 

“Can we make it a rule we don’t leave the common room at the same time?”  
“We have to prefect rounds together, princess.”

“Dammit.”

The bridge outside leading in from the Quidditch pitch: 

“You don’t even like flying, SpaceCase. Why are you out here?” 

“I’m just coming in from my walk!” 

“So you were admiring the view. Which is me.”

“Der-ek, shut up and kiss me so we can get this over with!”

The library:

“You don’t even study when classes are in session, Derek, what are you doing in here?!”

“.... Prank on Madam Pince. Might want to hurry this up, Case, before she catches on and we’re both in detention….”

All those places, every day, at least once or twice, they found themselves under mistletoe. 

“We really need to stop meeting each other like this,” Casey huffed as they found themselves in the same seventh floor hallway a few days before Christmas. The taunting mistletoe hung above them, sparkling an obnoxious gold shimmer indicating to anyone who walked by they were stuck under the enchantment until they kissed. 

“What are you even doing on this floor,” Derek sighed, running a hand through his reddish-brown hair and giving her an exasperated look. “You have no reason to be here.”

“Neither do you,” Casey shot back, only slightly irritated at their situation. “I’m coming from the Room of Requirement, if you really must know.”

He lifted an eyebrow at that. “Didn’t know you knew that room, I’m impressed.”

“Shut up, it's not for some nefarious reason like I’m sure you utilize it.”

“Define ‘nefarious’”, Derek asked suggestively, already leaning in to kiss her. She put her hand up, halting his progress. 

“Ne-far-ious means something evil, or criminal. I know it’s a big word, but since we’re talking about you here…”

“I didn’t actually need you to define it,” he grumbled, trying to kiss her again. She dodged the kiss again, her hands resting on his waist casually. 

“Well what else would you need that room for if not to seduce girls,” Casey replied, rolling her eyes. “Or typical devious things that so befit our house.”

“You think I take girls to the Room of Requirement to seduce them?” Derek asked, impressed. “That’s actually genius, Spacey. Wanna test that out with me?”

“Hmmm,” she pretended to think it over before standing up to kiss him lightly on the lips, flouncing away before he could register what happened. “No thanks.”

“That’s not fair,” he called, pouting. He ran to catch up with her, snatching her up in his arms with his fast quidditch reflexes. She gave him a questioning look, but didn’t attempt to move out his hold. “I wasn’t ready for the kiss,” he murmured, looking into her bright blue eyes. “That doesn’t count as a proper one.”

“Der-ek,” she laughed, tilting her head up all the same for better access. “Alright then, before I change my mind.”

He grinned, swooping down and brushing his lips against her softly. He pulled back a centimeter, pleased when she unconsciously moved to follow him. He waited the barest of seconds before capturing her lips once more before she changed her mind, taking his time as she matched her speed perfectly with his. They stood there for a long while, their shared kiss building up and up. Derek walked them back towards one of the tapestries in the corridor, moving them out of view from prying eyes. 

She let him, lost in the sensations that stirred inside of her each time she felt Derek kissing her. They were getting harder to stamp down.

Unnoticed by them, so preoccupied as they were with each other, Lizzie and Edwin spied from their hidden spot behind another tapestry. Silently they turned down into a secret passageway, holding in their giddiness until they were well clear from the seventh floor. 

“I knew it,” Lizzie burst out as they entered one of the lower floors. “Everything is going to plan.”

Edwin nodded, impressed. “How did you know Casey would be at the Room of Requirement?”

“She goes there often to just daydream and read,” Lizzie said, shrugging. “It’s like a comfort thing. She’s just very predictable. How did you get Derek upstairs?”

“Convinced Flitwick to summon him for a meeting that he had no intention of actually making,” Edwin responded. “Easy enough to do since he’s quite pleased with the relatively quietness this break between Casey and Derek.”

“The golden price of silence,” Lizzie smirked. “Merlin I hope this extends past the holidays, the second half of the year will be so much better for us all if they’re too busy snogging to prank each other.”

They walked a few paces down the hallway before Edwin stopped abruptly. “Unless they join forces and target us!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and sweet. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Casey telling Derek she would rather kiss the giant squid is inspired from Sirius telling Harry that his mother once said that to his father. 
> 
> Short but sweet! With a hint of a follow up .... ;)


End file.
